The TLC requested Uber divulge "the date of trip, time of trip,
pick up location, and license numbers" over a finite period. The
bases
were reopened the next day.

It appears Uber has had a
change of heart and will comply with city governments, using ride
data to help city planners.

"Today, Boston joins Uber in a
first-of-its-kind partnership to help expand the city’s
capability to solve problems by leveraging data provided by
Uber," according to the company's statement. "The data will
provide new insights to help manage urban growth, relieve traffic
congestion, expand public transportation, and reduce greenhouse
gas emissions."

The post is quick to point out that data shared with local
governments will be anonymized, so riders' names and addresses
won't be made available. Instead, Uber will give Boston's city
planners the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) in which
Uber rides start and end. Uber will also provide the city with
the distances and durations of trips taken.

Rider data could be quite beneficial for city planners.
The Washington
Post's Emily Badger points out that anonymized versions
of Uber's rider data could "help cities verify that Uber drivers
aren't discriminating against certain neighborhoods or disabled
passengers, that Uber is actually weeding out drivers who do,
that the company is truly serving the public in exchange for the
public's confidence in it."

The Washington Post says trip data could also help transportation
planners analyze people's travel routes, and city planners might
be able to better plan infrastructure and handle traffic flow in
cities.